Chapter 3
1054 Words
Chapter Three
The Powder Tower, Purity Headquarters, Praha 1
Sophia woke in a cage, her thoughts dragging as she recovered from the potent sedative.
She was lying on a wooden bench, and slowly sat upright. Her earpiece was gone, along with all her belongings. She was still wearing her original clothes, including the lightweight liquid armor Olesya had given them, but she’d been stripped of her jacket, belt, holster and sneakers.
Nasira sat on a bench opposite her, hands on her knees and head down. Next to her, Jay looked up to reveal a bruised face crusted with trickles of dried blood.
‘Starting to think you weren’t gonna wake up,’ he said.
‘Where are we?’ Sophia asked.
‘Best guess is we’re under the Prague Castle,’ Nasira said. ‘Underground.’
‘Where’s Damien? Did he make it to the train?’
If Denton was telling the truth—and that was a big if—then the cure for the kill switch was on that train. Their survival depended on it. Just as Denton intended.
‘No way to know,’ Nasira said.
‘If Purity captured him,’ Sophia said, ‘he would be here, with us.’
‘You think he passed out somewhere, got back up and made it clear?’ Jay asked.
‘Don’t matter,’ Nasira said. ‘How’s he going to get in here?’
He can’t. We have to get out.
‘How long have we been here?’ Sophia asked. She was hot and shivering at the same time.
Nasira shrugged.
Jay was busy examining himself with both hands. ‘Is my face or neck … burned?’
Sophia and Nasira exchanged a glance.
‘No,’ they said in unison.
Jay gestured to his rear. ‘And does my ass look big in this?’
Nasira’s silence spoke volumes.
‘I’ll take that as another no.’
‘You were burned before this?’ Nasira asked.
‘I think so,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’s leftover Regen. I feel fine, except … a bit … floppy.’
‘Like the opposite of that HAC bullshit you injected?’ Nasira asked.
‘Pretty much. What about you?’
‘Dizzy. Feels like I don’t know which way’s up anymore.’
Jay took her hand, then looked up at Sophia. ‘How you holding up?’
She wiped sweat from her forehead. ‘Like I’m dying.’
‘That’s ’cos you are,’ Nasira said. ‘Guessing someone decided to flip the kill switch.’
‘So … are we going back for DC or what?’ Jay asked, changing the subject.
‘We can’t,’ Sophia said. ‘Not until we figure out a way to contain him.’
‘What they do to him?’ Nasira asked.
‘Purity must have injected him with something.’ Sophia swallowed. Sweat dripped from her nose. ‘He’s not DC anymore. They turned him … into a goddamn psychopath.’
‘Seriously?’ Jay said. ‘s**t. I see why you didn’t let him out.’
Sophia wiped her face again. ‘I didn’t want to leave him there, but I didn’t … have a choice.’
Boots sounded outside their cages: Purity were coming to start their questions. They had no idea Sophia had an expiry date.
But when the visitors appeared, Sophia was only a little surprised to see Denton and two of his operatives, all in standard Purity uniform.
Where is Xiu?
‘Well, you don’t look so flash,’ he said. ‘Maybe you should try escaping, like us.’
‘You come to gloat?’ Nasira asked.
Sophia couldn’t see any kind of color around Denton, not even the black hole she’d seen last time. It drained inward, becoming a dull haze. Her abilities were fading. At least, everything except her Regen.
‘Am I right to assume you never made it back to the station?’ Denton asked. His hand jingled something metal in his pocket.
‘What do you think, genius?’ Jay answered.
‘That’s the nicest thing you’ve called me in a while.’
‘You don’t look sick,’ Sophia cut in. ‘Not like us.’
Denton pulled a tube from his pocket and dangled it before them. There was a catheter on the end. ‘We came prepared. Sadly, I don’t have any to spare.’
Can he still read our minds?
Nasira gripped the bars. ‘If you’re going to kill us, get it over with.’
‘If I wanted to kill you, I would simply leave you here and make my timely escape before the Purity Guard realize we’re not in our cells.’ He checked his watch. ‘I’d hate to estimate how long you have left.’
‘Let’s go with “not much”,’ Nasira said.
Denton focused on Sophia. ‘I was asking Žofie Novotný.’
‘You saw what they did to DC,’ she said. ‘Is there a cure?’
‘I doubt that’s high on the Fifth Column’s priorities, but it stands to reason one could be created. I’m no scientist, mind you.’
‘Why are you still here?’
‘For a start,’ Denton said, ‘I’d like you to survive this unfortunate predicament. You’re worth hundreds of millions a piece and you’re likely the only ragtag bunch of misfits left in Europe who can stop this annoying cult.’
‘I guess we weren’t as prepared as you,’ Sophia said.
‘Then perhaps you should be.’
‘I’m not in control anymore. And as much as you’d like to believe otherwise, neither are you.’
‘You’re still worth more to me alive than dead,’ Denton said, drawing something else from his pocket: a ring of keys.
‘Right. So where were you when we were saving Europe from a nuclear h*******t?’ Sophia asked.
He smiled. ‘I can assure you, those warheads were harmless. Inert.’
Nasira snarled. ‘That was you, wasn’t it? You son of a bitch.’
Sophia stepped in front of her. ‘Is that true?’
Denton took a measured step away from the cage door. ‘The truth is, I needed you in the fight. Both you and Olesya.’
Anger flared inside Sophia, but she extinguished it quickly. ‘And you thought deception was the way to get it done?’
He smiled. ‘It exploits our preconceived assumptions. You told me that yourself, once upon a time.’
Sophia glared at him. ‘You almost got us killed. For a clever man, you took a stupid risk.’
‘A calculated risk. I needed you committed.’
‘Have you forgotten? We don’t work for you anymore.’
Denton dropped the keys at the door. ‘I’ve taken the liberty of disabling the cameras in this tower. There are two dead guards outside this room. I hope you find them before anyone else does.’
‘What’s the catch?’ Sophia asked.
‘Make a left, then make a right,’ he said, ignoring her. ‘There is a tunnel beneath the old Royal Palace that will take you to the other end of the hall. You will find it up the stairs and inside the arch. It’s not used for much, but it will get you out of the castle and into the Great Ball-Game House.’
‘You haven’t answered my question.’
‘The catch is that you need to stop Purity. If you fail … well, then I won’t need to kill you myself.’
- Writer
